46 Years Ago...

Forty-six years ago, very early in the morning, our youngest daughter Dawn was born. She was in a bit of a hurry, arriving less than three hours after she made it plain she was on her way. I am a bit surprised we actually made it to the hospital as her brother had actually taken longer to arrive then our first-born daughter. I was NOT expecting a quick labor.

As a matter of fact, just two days before we had gone on a several hour trip with Forry's Sister Gracie's family into the Wenatchee National Forest to cut our Christmas tree. Though I was due the next week, I distinctly remember remarking that I would have plenty of time if the baby decided to come early...

Son Sean is autistic and as a toddler and young child, he was extremely hyperactive. It took us until he was five years old to decide we wanted one more child. And what a blessing she has been to us!

We named our first daughter Mary Mae for my maternal and paternal grandmothers. And I named our son Sean Forrest as I had always loved the name and it paid tribute to both my Irish forebears and to his Dad. So, Forry insisted that he would get to name our third child. (And you have to remember that in those days they didn't have ultrasounds that would reveal the baby's gender!)

We have always joked that the babe decided to be a girl because Forry was planning to name a boy Wolfgang Derrick! He was debating between Dawn Tiffany and Tiffany Dawn for a girl. We had neighbors in the Carico Hills where I grew up that named their daughter Dawn, which Forry really liked. My dear Mother-in-law was quite emphatic that she didn't want her grand-child named after a store, so he settled on Dawn as a first name and Tiffany as a middle name.

I had made a felt stocking for the baby back in November to go with the stockings I had previously made for the rest of the family. (I had made stockings for my parents and siblings when I was still in high school. I've kept up the tradition as we've added sons-in-law and grandchildren to the family.) The red stocking had a Santa carrying a diaper just like a stork. I had cut out the letters for both names, not knowing which we would use. My mother glued Dawn's name on the stocking and brought it to the hospital for her.

Being cognizant of the active five-year old we had at home along with our eight-year old daughter, Dr. Young decided I should stay in the hospital for FIVE days and rest! I can remember becoming extremely bored (in those days, they kept the babies in the nursery except when they were nursing!) and actually helping the Nurse Aide Eloise make beds. Eloise and I became friends and when Forry finally took me and the new baby home, we also took home a large jar of her special homemade hot sauce. (Eloise later gave Mexican cooking classes for several of us and taught us recipes I still use...)

So many years ago.

Now Dawn is an adult with a husband and three children of her own. But, in my heart, she is still the precious infant laid in my arms that very early morning.

Rainy Days in Phoenix Town

I'm not sure how much rain we've had in the last two days, but it's been a lot. We've had a few small sun breaks like this --

Then it just clouds up and starts coming down again. The weather forecast talked about thunderstorms, but we've not seen that, only the rain. Thankfully, Josh must have done a real good job on the roof caulking as so far we've stayed nice and dry inside. The cement pad outside seems to have a concave middle which makes for a nice puddle just outside the door --

 

Yesterday was package delivery day! First came a package from Sister Sherry with some scrumptious Chocolate Chukar Cherries. Then came the delivery of my Christmas present from Forry. Next we went to the Post Office; purchased a new mailbox key (whereupon the "lost" one immediately showed up...); and took delivery of two packages from Oregon.

While we were in Oregon visiting Daughter Dawn's family, someone (who shall not be named) took the stand for my "Gossiping Birds" out of Toad II while he was doing something and didn't put it back in. So the birds have been languishing on the patio floor since we arrived here. Son-in-law Todd was kind enough to package the stand up in a PVC pipe tube and mail it to Arizona (along with enough other little packages to make our Christmas stockings bulge).

As you can tell by the way they are busy "discussing" things, the ladies are most happy to be able to pontificate again. THANK YOU, TODD!

 

Today we ventured out in the rain to pick up some cards to mail Christmas checks to the grandkids. I also took Forry shopping for his Christmas present. I had seen in this morning's paper that LazyBoy Furniture stores were having their annual chair sale, so we checked it out. I found a dark red corduroy one we both liked, but the more we thought about the way he sits in his chair to both eat and drink, the more we decided that we had best stick with leather. We did find a dark tan leather one that they will be able to deliver next week some time.

A Day to Mourn

Another Day...

Today was another routine day. Except that, sometime between yesterday afternoon and today, I managed to misplace the the key to the mailbox! I have absolutely no recollection of what I did with it after I shut the mailbox yesterday...

I've checked all of my pockets, the basket on my trike, the area around the parking area, where I hung my clothes last night, etc. We went over to the office and checked lost and found, but no one has turned it in. They recommended at the post office we wait a day or two to see if it shows up, otherwise we can get a new one for $5...

We also went over to the Silversmith Shop and paid for the class we will be taking on January 7th. We saw this Christmas inflatable blown up along the sidewalk --

It's kind of fun as the door opens and Santa pops out --

We saw one like this in Florida last Christmas. If I remember correctly it was at a Mini-Golf course at Disneyland that we went to with our friends Leslie and Bill.

From the office we went to the Safeway store just a mile or so from the park. Today the Starbucks Outlet in the store had a Christmas special -- buy one drink and get another free. That's a nice way to end an afternoon!

Around the Park ....

Forry and Tom were up and out early. The Wood Shop has an orientation program on Wednesday mornings at 7:45 AM SHARP! (According to the information brochure that says to be there at 7:30 to register before the orientation.) Tom has done some beautiful wood-turning at his home shop in Albuquerque. Forry just went along to keep him company.

After they got back (and Forry had a nap), we took the bikes out and rode over to the post office annex to check for mail. Then we rode over to the main office to check out the Silversmith Shop. Their rules say you have to take a class before you can use the shop. But, they will not have any more classes until January... We did go ahead and sign up for the first class in January. Neither of us had brought our wallets, so we'll have to ride back over tomorrow to pay for it.

These hibiscus are blooming in a pot just outside the door of the shop --

We rode around the back side of the park where the softball field is. On the way back to Auntie Violet we saw this neat helicopter --

The propeller was spinning around -- so cute!

Puppy Fix

Today was laundry day and Auntie Violet is festooned with drying clothes. I hadn't washed for a bit, so actually did four loads. It was chilly today and even with the door and the windows open, they didn't dry very quickly.

Juni invited us over for supper tonight. She was in the mood for some comfort food, so made beef stew today. It was very good -- and very filling! We hadn't been at their motorhome for a week or so, so hadn't gotten our puppy fix in a while. As usual, when we came to the door, there was a regular cacophony of barking, especially from the littlest one.

This is Izzie, a Yorkshire Terrier who is almost four years old --

She had the cutest face...

This is the poodle Tika. She is about nine years old and loves nothing better than to sit on your lap and have her back rubbed --

And then there is this little scamp. Cassie is just seven months old and is a little live wire. She is a full sister to Izzie. Her mother didn't survive, so Juni brought her home and bottle fed her every two hours when she was a baby. She is still very much a puppy and runs the other two in circles.

We had a very pleasant evening visiting, but came didn't stay to late as the guys are planning to get up early go to the wood shop orientation and safety meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM!

Monday Chores

One of the things I really like about Valle del Oro is that Mesa, Arizona really believes in recycling. Just about everything but food, styrofoam and food stained paper goes into their recycling bins. Each site gets one big recycling bin - twice the size of the garbage one - that is collected every two weeks. Today was collection day. We had to take our blue bin across to the other side of the street --

What a sight to see all of the blue bins lined up along the street ready for pick-up --

We went over to the Activity Office to arrange for newspaper delivery. While we were out, we decided we just had to deal with the very dusty, dirty Toad II. I checked on the GPS and found a car wash that was just a mile away from the park --

They had a very busy, very conscientious crew that really worked Toad II over --
 

Inside and out --

She was primped and polished. All of the rain and road grime disappeared --

Juni and Tom came over for a bit this evening. Juni said Toad II looked brand new!

Waiting...

The pastor at Koinonia Mennonite Church over in Chandler based his Advent sermon this morning on waiting. He admitted that he was not very good at waiting in line for anything -- five minutes being about his limit.

 I had to think about that...

I've spent a great deal of my life waiting. I can remember as a child anxiously awaiting becoming a grown-up. Grown-ups had all the answers. They knew things.

What a disillusion when the time came! To realize that technically I was a grown-up, but I still didn't have all the answers and there was so much I didn't know! I'm still waiting on that one.

So much of our lives is spent waiting. For small things -- for the guy at the part store to find the new part that will match the one I've brought in from the combine; for the line at the grocery store to finally reach the register; or for the stop light to change to green. And for the big things -- the birth of a baby; the end of a surgery and the arrival of the surgeon in the waiting room; or the transition of a loved one at the end of their life.

Sometimes the waiting ends in disappointment, sometimes it ends in joy and sometimes we wonder if that's all there is to it...

In some ways waiting is easier than it used to be. Can it be that I have become more patient? Or is it because I've usually got one of my electronic toys with me? I can play a game or check on Facebook on my iPhone or read the paper or my latest novel on my Kindle.

Waiting is also easier because time seems to fly by so much faster these days. It used to take forever for Christmas to arrive. Now it seems as though it was just a couple of months ago and here it is again. Our grandchildren were just babies and now the oldest is graduating from high school this spring.

Waiting.

Something to think about.

Something to ponder.

A Very Lazy Day

Not sure what happened today, but I do know it was a VERY lazy one. We went out to dinner last night to Frasher's, a steakhouse over in Scottsdale with Juni and Tom. We met Tommie, Tom's son,  and his roommate Steve there. We were all celebrating Juni and Tom's anniversary. We think it was their ninth anniversary, but they weren't entirely positive...!

Forry and I split a wonderful rib eye steak. It was served with a mashed acorn squash that was topped with a sour cherry sauce and candied walnuts. It was a great meal. It wasn't all that late when we got home, but we sure weren't moving very fast today.

We had bought a very little living Christmas tree last week when we were in town. We had put it in the windshield so that it could be seen from outside. But we have discovered that the lights cannot be seen through the sun shade on the window, so tonight we set it outside on the table by my lounge chair --

I spent most of the afternoon reading and dozing on the couch while Forry alternated dozing and watching the Army-Navy football game on TV.

Lights!

Yesterday Forry pulled the Christmas box from out of one of the passenger side bays and we hung Auntie Violet's icicles up on her front grill. This year we attached them in the middle instead of just letting them hang down. This way they don't look quite so much like teeth!

If you look down the street to the left, there are quite a few lights and decorations --

As well as the street down to the right. Many people wrap the palm trees in front of their sites in lights --

This is the park model right across the street from us --

One would think that Christmas might be coming!